The Quests Clash
by Apollol
Summary: This is an alternate ending for The Titan's Curse. Percy, Thalia, and Zoe get lost on their way to the Chase's. Who do they ask for help? No one but their unknown enemies, of course. Will the two quests be able to work together? Or will they tear each other apart? Thanks to AnnabethChaseForever for the cover image.
1. Arguments and Strange Meetings

Thalia, Zoe, and I were on our way to the Chase's. Not that I'm a complainer or anything, but my feet were really sore and all I wanted to do was sit and rest. Finally, the girls stopped walking. I really wasn't sure why. They both looked like they could walk for another five years without getting tired, but they stopped anyway. Maybe I complained out loud. As I watched them try to communicate telepathically, I realized we were lost.

"I don't think this is San Francisco," Thalia muttered to herself, "Did we go the right way?"

"Well, if we aren't in San Francisco, we aren't in the right place," Zoe said. I didn't really need her to say that to figure out we had gone the wrong way, but I decided not to bring that up.

"What if we just ask for directions?" I asked, fully aware I was likely going to be extremely injured soon. If they think I doubt their sense of direction, I'm doomed. I really don't want to be a pile of ash forever more, so I started praying. Thalia was already shooting me the 'we didn't ask you' look.

"We could," Thalia said slowly, "But who would we ask? No sane adult would talk to us. We aren't even in San Francisco. The people around here might not have any clue where we should go."

"True," I admit. I hadn't thought of that one, "So who do we ask? We can't just sit here. We do have a deadline. If we don't make it to Mount Tam-"

"Everyone's doomed. Who knows what they'll do to her? Those titans are crazy. We have to make it." Thalia left no room for argument. We did have to make it. Annabeth would die if we didn't make it. I know Thalia's worried about Annabeth, but she hides it so much better than me. If I didn't already know Thalia was missing her, I probably wouldn't guess she was. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

"Thalia is right. We must make it on time. Everything is depending on us. We will need to ask for directions or find a map. What do thee think we should do?" Of course, Zoe wasn't talking to me, but I answered anyway.

"We should ask someone," I said automatically. It would be so much faster. I doubt either girl would understand my other reason for asking.

"Why? We would still have to try to find someone," Thalia argued. I get her point, but really? She's probably arguing purely for the sake of arguing.

"We would still have to find a store," I point out, "And we're dyslexic."

"The boy has a point. We couldn't read the map, even if we did find a store." I was thoroughly surprised by Zoe saying I was right. I must have really good points. Or she just figured we weren't going to get anywhere if she didn't step in.

"Fine," Thalia huffed, "But you two are finding someone to ask." I decided not to point out how Thalia would have to come with us anyway. She would probably fry me. Lucky for me, Zoe already discovered that, too.

"Thee are going to have to come with us anyway," Zoe pointed out. The glare Thalia sent our way was terrifying. I wish Zoe hadn't brought that up, either. Being on the receiving end of those glares is one of the worst things that could ever happen to you.

"How 'bout them?" I ask, looking over in the direction of a tunnel. The highway cut through it, so we'd have to cross the highway to get to the teenagers. It would be worth it, though. Probably.

"We would have to cross the highway." Zoe stated my thoughts aloud. It wouldn't be easy. The cars were really fast. One person with bad timing could kill us all. I didn't want to die so young, but what other choice did we have?

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Thalia grumbled. I really didn't see how that was necessary. "Do we want to cross the highway? We could die."

"We could die standing here, too," I remind her. It's depressing, but we could die at any time from anything.

"I guess it's worth a shot," she mumbled, not sounding too happy. As we watched cars fly by, I couldn't help but wonder about her and Zoe's past. Why didn't they agree on anything? It couldn't be that bad.

Eventually, there was a break in the first lane long enough that we could run through. None of us really wanted to stand in the middle of the highway, so whatever chance we got we would run. By the time we all got to the other side, the other teens were gone.

"Now what do we do?" Zoe asked, "They already left. We can't split up to find them. It's too risky."

"I saw them head to the right," I told the girls, already walking that way. I glanced back to see them following me. Apparently they didn't have any better ideas.

Thalia was the first to notice the group of three we were looking for. "Hey!" she shouted, trying to get them to notice us. It didn't work.

I ran up to the group and managed to catch their attention. Shortly after, Thalia and Zoe arrived.

"What?" one of the blond guys asked. He was clearly leading, and the other guy clearly didn't like it.

"How do you get to San Francisco?" Thalia asked. I wasn't surprised she went straight to the point.

"Why?" the other blond asked. They asked too many questions. We had a deadline!

"Why not?" Thalia challenged. I didn't like where this was going, so I decided to step in.

"Before we all kill each other, let's at least learn each others' names," I tried. Fortunately, it worked. Thalia and the blond that wasn't leading were still glaring daggers at each other, but at least no one was dying. "My name is Percy. I think these two can introduce themselves."

Thalia stepped forward first. "I'm Thalia, and this is-"

"I can introduce myself," Zoe cut off Thalia. "My name is Zoe. Who are thee?"

"Well," their leader started, "This is Emily," he pointed at the girl, "that's Octavian," he pointed at the other guy, "and I am Jason."

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**A/N: I hate author's notes so I'll keep it short. I'm not sure how long this story will be, but I hope I can make it long. I'll try to update as soon as I can, but if you want long chapters (most will be about his long, maybe even longer), you'll need to be a bit more patient. I'll do my best to update ASAP.**

**~Apollol**


	2. Introductions and Flying cars

**A/N: Sorry I took so long to update. I was at my friend's cabin for a while and had no wifi. I feel so bad about updating this late. I will try to get the next chapter up sooner. **

**Just to make everything clear, Emily is not Emily Zhang. It was just the first name that popped into my mind. Also, Grover left right before this part with Bessie. **

**Thanks to ThaliaLover (Guest) for being my first reviewer. Also, thanks to AnnabethChaseForever and FateOfChaos for reviewing, coheed cutie and ziva10 for favoriting and following, and Brackenfern and FateOfChaos for following.**

**Disclaimer:(I forgot this last chapter. Oops.) I don't own Percy Jackson. End of story.**

**Previously:**

"_This is Emily," he pointed at the girl, "Octavian," he pointed at the other guy, "and I am Jason."_

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"Well," the blond, Octavian, said, "it was a pleasure exchanging names with you. We must be going now, if you don't mind."

"Octavian, we can wait another five minutes. I doubt these guys came over just to introduce themselves," said Jason. It was obvious this happened a lot. Octavian just rolled his eyes, looking like he would rather be anywhere else.

"Yeah, you're right. We're looking for…" I looked at Thalia, silently willing her to finish my sentence. She didn't notice the awkward silence. For some reason, Thalia was staring at Jason. Not staring in a weird way, but staring as in 'I think I know you'. Jason hadn't even noticed.

"Thalia?" I asked, trying to get her to stop staring uselessly and give us the address. It worked, fortunately, because if it didn't, that would make this even more awkward than it already is, and it's already pretty awkward.

"Huh? Yeah, just a minute," she muttered, reaching into her pockets. We all watched as she checked every one of her pockets before looking at us and shaking her head. She must have lost it on the highway while we were running.

"Sorry, guys," she mumbled, looking at her feet.

"What is with all these 'guys'?" Zoe looked offended. I guess to her, being called a guy is an insult. Well, I guess it would be to a lot of girls. Thankfully, everyone ignored her.

"Do you remember the address?" Jason asked, not sounding the least bit worried. Maybe this happened to him all the time. I doubt it, but maybe.

"No. Not even the street name. But that's not where we're actually going." Thalia looked at me. "We need to get to Mount Tamalpais." I nodded my head. If they could get us all the way to the mountain before sunset, we could still make it in time.

"We can get you there, but it won't be today. We'll never make it before nightfall," Octavian said. He was really getting on my nerves.

"We can still try, Octavian." Jason sounded as annoyed as I was.

"We need to get there before sunset. If thee can't help, we will go by ourselves." Zoe was starting to sound as annoyed as Jason.

"It's not thee," Thalia corrected Zoe yet again, "It's you."

"Whatever!" Zoe cried out, exasperated. This wasn't getting us anywhere, and we needed to get to Mount Tam before sunset.

"Guys!" I shouted. Everyone looked at me. "We need to get to Mount Tam by sunset, and all this bickering is slowing us down." I looked at Jason. "Can you help us get there or not?"

"Yes," Emily cut in, "We can help you. We need to head over there anyway."

"Thank you. So, now that we have that sorted, how are we getting there?"

"We take a car. That's kinda obvious," Octavian said. I didn't see how that was obvious. There weren't any cars sitting on the street ready for us. Besides, normal cars don't fit six people. The only car I'd seen that could work was Apollo's chariot, and it wasn't very likely he'd be willing to lend it to us.

"What car?" Emily asked. She must have been thinking the same thing as I was. "I don't see any cars. Well, I do. We are standing at a highway. But I don't see any cars we can use that will fit six people." Yep, she was definitely thinking the same thing as I was.

"Why don't we-" Jason started, only to be cut off by a really loud engine. We all looked up and saw… "A flying car?" Emily asked. Octavian looked at her, giving her a looked that clearly said 'what are you doing?'. Then I realized something extremely important. She had seen it as a flying car. She must have been a demigod. Octavian must have too, because he had shot her a look telling her to shut up. And if those two are both demigods, Jason must be, too.

I glanced at Thalia, checking to see if she had noticed, but she just said, "Oh."

"Yeah, forget what she said. She didn't mean it," Jason said. I could tell he had seen the car because he was looking up in awe. I wondered if they had to bow whenever Apollo came down in his car trying to burn everything down. Sadly, we did. So, even though I didn't want to, I half-bowed. The last thing we needed was for me to be blown up by Apollo because I forgot to bow.

"Hey," Thalia said, not looking overly excited to see her half brother. I guess if I had a sister and she tried to flirt with me, I'd feel just as awkward. Wait, aren't siblings not supposed to… you know, I think I'll stay out of this one.

"Hey sweetie," Apollo said, winking. Thalia shifted uneasily and gave a forced smile. Fortunately for her, he'd already moved on to greet Zoe. Poor Apollo was probably going to be beat up.

"Need any help, sweetheart?" I'm pretty sure I saw a hint of a glare form on her face, but we did need help. Apollo was better than nothing.

"Actually, we do," Zoe said. Apollo's face lit up. Literally.

"Anything for you, dear," Apollo said. So far, things were going our way. This obviously wouldn't last for long.

"We need to get to Mount Tam." Thalia had finally gotten sick of all the flirting and cut in. I was too; I just didn't want to ruin our chances.

"Wait! I feel a haiku coming on!" Apollo announced. Thalia, Zoe, and I groaned. Not another one.

"A huntress needs help,

I am there to save the day,

No one can beat me." With that, Apollo turned around and started walking to his car. He was just about to open the door when Octavian decided to join in the conversation.

"We would like a ride, too. We're actually headed to the same place." With that, Octavian walked over and got in the car.

"Not so fast, kid," Apollo said, trying to get Octavian out of his car, "I didn't even say you could look at my amazing car, so get out."

"Your car is no better than everyone else's so you can go-" Octavian began, before being cut off by Apollo.

"My car, my rules. My world, my rules. Got it?" Apollo asked.

"It's only partially your world," Thalia reminded him. He shot her a dirty look and turned back to Octavian.

"Hm. I recognize you from somewhere." Apollo looked deep in thought for a minute. "Got it! You're that auger, right? From the other camp."

"What other camp?" Zoe asked sounding quite interested. Thalia did too; she just looked interested for a different reason.

"Oh, you'll find out eventually. Well, either get in the car or don't come." Apollo beckoned for us to follow him and walked over to his car.

"So, who's driving this time?" he asked. It was clear he didn't want Thalia driving again.

"Why don't we have someone who's never been in the car drive first?" I asked, trying not to sound like I'm taking leadership, "That way no one will die."

"Sounds good," Thalia said. She didn't seem to want to drive again, either.

"Jason can drive," Emily suggested, "He's good with heights."

"Sure. Why not?" Jason asked, seeming pretty sure of himself. I was kind of relieved. Someone who actually thought they could do this was trying. We might not crash into any lakes this time.

"Everybody in!" Apollo called cheerfully. He was teaching Jason how to drive the chariot as we all climbed into the back. As soon as we were all seated Jason took off. I prayed to all the gods this wouldn't be as bad as last time.

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**A/N: There you go. That was 1, 302 words without the Author's Notes.**

**Thanks again to my awesome reviewers, followers (that makes it sound like Twitter or Facebook), and favoriters.**


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